3 Big Swings for the Blue Jackets This Offseason to Escape Mediocrity

The Columbus Blue Jackets have been a team that has struggled to gain the notice of the league. Outside of one series in the 2019 NHL Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning, they have done little else to become a story in the national media.

Due to their lack of success, they were even called the most irrelevant team in sports by Bill Simmons on his podcast “The Bill Simmons Podcast” in November 2025. How exactly did the Blue Jackets end up here?

For a long time, they struggled to attract big free agent signings because, notoriously, Columbus was not known for being a contender or a big market. Many people around the league also believed the environment was not fun to play in, and did not think the fans cared much about the team.

That has been disproven in the past few seasons. While missing the playoffs, Columbus had the sixth-best attendance in the NHL last season, averaging 18,935 fans per home game. They fell back this season after a poor start and struggled at the end of the season, falling to just 16,878.

So, how can the Blue Jackets take a big swing this season and dig their way out of mediocrity once again? I am going to explore three potential trade ideas to reignite the flame and light the cannon some more in Nationwide Arena during the 2026-27 season.

Big Scoring Winger Solves Scoring Drought

Though the Blue Jackets could attack this issue in free agency, the market is quite thin this year, and unless they want to get into an offer sheet war with another team, a trade seems most feasible for top talent to be brought in to Columbus.

We saw a few mid-season trades made by Don Waddell and company in 2025-26, but ultimately, the scoring punch they acquired with Mason Marchment and Conor Garland was not enough to get them over the hump and make the playoffs again, leaving them in the mushy middle of the Eastern Conference. A big shakeup is needed, and who might it be?

If you want to swing, better swing big, right? Why not bring a guy like Jason Robertson, a perennial 35-plus goal scorer, to a team needing offense and reunite him with the coach that he captured his first 40-goal season under, with Rick Bowness?

"He's got great skills, great offensive upside, so we're going to give him the opportunity to use those skills."

Rick Bowness talks about Jason Robertson's upcoming @NHL debut and much more following morning skate. #DALvsTOR | #GoStars pic.twitter.com/drhpVvpCTy

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) February 13, 2020

It has been widely reported that the Dallas Stars have been struggling to come to an agreement with Robertson on terms for a contract extension, and for a team like the Stars that is running extremely thin on salary cap space, a move off from Robertson may help them to field a better team.

His contract will be demanding, and the price would be hefty; however, we have seen the Blue Jackets willing to offer huge contracts to players before. The money is there for Columbus, and the setup for Robertson is nice too, with a young core of high-upside offensive talent that just hasn’t put it all together yet.

The deal would ask a lot of the Blue Jackets, parting with at least two top prospects, an above-average NHL player right now, and would likely demand the first-round pick this year as well. This could look something like Cayden Lindstrom, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Cole Sillinger, and the 14th-overall pick, for Robertson. Something like that would be really hard for a cap-strapped team like the Stars to say no to, and the Blue Jackets would love that deal with a massive scoring punch getting added.

Blue Jackets Shoot For Lockdown Defenseman

Another case in which, if you are the Blue Jackets, why not take a swing on a player with a roster trying to rebuild and retool for the future? That team could be the New York Rangers, who are in a position to shed talent with a big price tag for a reshaping of their future.

The Blue Jackets need a defenseman who is not named Zach Werenski to be able to defend and offset the offensive upside most of their current defensemen carry, with some lockdown defense. The best lockdown defender they currently have is Erik Gudbranson, but as an unrestricted free agent, it looks unlikely the Blue Jackets can retain everyone.

So, in this case, they find a way to get Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox from the Rangers. Entering year five of the seven-year extension he signed, he is in line to go try and compete and not stay around for an entire rebuild that is coming to the Big Apple. He also got passed over by JT Miller for the captain of the Rangers, and likely could drive him out of the organization this offseason.

"Sounds like a guy that’s really starting to think about his future."

In the latest 32 Thoughts, @sportsnetkyle and @FriedgeHNIC discuss Adam Fox’s future in New York, the trade deadline, and more.

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— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 27, 2026

Fox holds all the cards in this interaction or trade effort, as he has a full no-movement clause and would have to approve of the trade before it were able to go through. However, this could make a ton of sense for both parties.

The Rangers need to add a youth infusion, they need talent, and they need to drop some big price tags. Fox carries a $9.5 million cap hit for each of the next three seasons, and the Blue Jackets, as previously mentioned, have the cap space to bring him in. The Blue Jackets need a shutdown defenseman to pair with Werenski on the top pairing and to cut down on defensive zone breakdowns.

Fox ranks in the 99th percentile in deployment in the defensive zone and has been one of the top defensemen in the NHL at limiting opponents’ chances, specifically high-danger chances, which has been a big problem for the Blue Jackets. This addition could be a huge win for both sides.

A deal like this could look something like the top pick this year and possibly next year, a high-upside young NHL player, and a premier prospect. The Blue Jackets could offer the 14th-overall pick, a 2027 first-round pick, Kent Johnson, and Jackson Smith. While this would dramatically hurt the Blue Jackets’ future youth, in this case, it makes them miles better right now and gives them a great chance of competing next season.

Blue Jackets Send Help for #2 Pick

The Blue Jackets can’t be overly patient with a roster filled with players needing a push of some sort. Whether they can or can’t land a top-level player currently in the NHL should not impact a push coming this summer from Waddell. He knows this team needs to have a clear direction moving forward, and the way this could look is as simple as trading up in the draft.

They could trade with a team that barely missed out on the playoffs but got extremely lucky in the draft lottery, the Sharks. They landed the second-overall selection, and could be willing to trade down, or out of that pick to acquire NHL-ready talent to play alongside Macklin Celebrini, and create a great team of the future.

If the Blue Jackets were to take a swing at the second pick, they would need to have a big package that sells the Sharks out of a player like Ivar Stenberg, who could be tremendous in the NHL very shortly. The Blue Jackets have some NHL talent who may just need a fresh start somewhere else, like Dmitri Voronkov, who could be the focal point of the trade.

The Blue Jackets could give the Sharks Voronkov, the 14th-overall pick, and maybe a locker room leader like captain Boone Jenner, for the right to move up to second-overall to draft Stenberg. The Sharks could want more, and may even ask for a player like Denton Mateychuk with a really bright future ahead. These types of deals would be hard for both sides to come to a conclusion on.

How the Blue Jackets may go about this offseason could be up for debate, but there is no question there will be a push of some sort. They have to add talent or move up in the draft, but the one thing they can’t be is complacent.